Tips on preparing your garden with organic methods.
 (Read 50+ times)
By Catherine Smith
|
|
|
Whether you are planning on planting in your established garden or have a brand new palette to play with, here are some tips intended to make it easier to help you have a great, productive garden:
Get your soil tested, if you haven't done so already. This gives you an accurate idea of what additional amendments you may need to add to your soil to make sure you get maximum growth and production from your plants. If you have questions on how to do soil samples correctly, please see my article here at Helium at this site http://www.helium.com/items/934116-really-successful -garden-early.
Once you have the results of your soil test, you need to add any additional amendments necessary for optimum growth. Don't have time to get in a soil test to the lab, you can use one of the over the counter type test kits for a quick and dirty idea of what you need. They are not as detailed nor as accurate as the lab test, but it does give you a general idea of what you need to add to you soil.
The easiest way to add additional organic material to your bed is with a tiller, however, if you don't have access to a tiller, don't want rent one or have some do the tilling for you, I suggested you try the lasagna method. The Lasagna method is a no-till method based on books by Patrica Lanza. It consists of layering various amendments to the area you want to plant. It is basically sheet composting on a smaller scale.
You begin by adding a several layers of wet newspaper (only the black and white section, do not use the colored advertisements) or wet cardboard cut to fit the area you are working with (avoid the waxed type, it is very difficult to wet down). Earthworms love newspaper and cardboard. They are essential to healthy soil and a great garden. You then add a layer of spent coffee grounds, vegetable waste including banana peels, vegetable parings, etc. then cover with another layer of newspaper. Then add a layer of compost and then a layer of peat moss. Cover with grass clippings of mulch. The layer will look very thick, but over time the worms will reduce the layers to a nice level area. You can plant directly into these bed, just use a garden trowel to get through the layers and plant your flowers or seedlings. For seed, I suggest you not use the mulch, but sprinkle your seed directly on the area and cover with a thin layer of soil, compost or peat moss. Water well. One of the real advantages of this method is that anyone can do it, most of the ingredients are free or low cost and you can keep adding to it as it breaks down. Pull back the layers after it starts to settle and you will see rich black earth. Full of earthworms and their castings.
I use both methods, since my husband and I are older, the tiller works better for us as it's a lot less labor intensive for us. But I also use the lasagna method to build both new beds and improve old ones as well. I like to use any method that makes the soil healthier and richer. Healthier soil makes for stronger plants that are less susceptible to disease and insect pests.
If you have your own compost use that to side dress your growing plants, it will provide all the additional nutrition your growing plants will need. Or you can make yourself some compost tea to use as a side dressing. Put a large shovel full of compost in either a burlap bag or doubled over cheesecloth into a 5 gallon bucket and fill with water. Allow it to steep, you can use the resultant tea as a side dressing without fear of burning your plants.
For watering issues consider going with plants that our more drought resistant, consider using grey water (such as from your washer rinse water, or your bath) there is normally not enough soap product left in the dilution to do your plants any harm. In fact it has a tendency to discourage insect pests.
Consider adding rain barrels to your downspouts. And old time method that is coming back into play do to the drought conditions in so many parts of the country. It's amazing how many plants you can water from one rain barrel. And rainwater is good for your plants.
For something there are water soluble crystals that are available to add to your soil to help retain moisture. They are non toxic and will not harm your soil nor your plants. A little goes a long way with these, add 1 teaspoon to 5 gallons of water and let it grow. It will fill the 5 gallon bucket in no time. It will certainly help hold the moisture in the soil where your plants can most benefit from the additional moisture.
Also use mulch, it is a wonderful way to help the soil stay cooler and retain moisture, especially in the hottest part of the summer. It also helps to smother out weeds and weed seed, so you have less weeding to do.
Preparing a garden can be such fun, it just takes a little planning, a lot of work, but the results are so good to eat and so good for you. There is tremendous satisfaction that comes from growing it yourself.
|
Author Bio Box: Catherine Smith
Please visit me at my site at: http://www.helium.com
Didn't really find what you were looking for?
|
|
|
| |
|
|
![[Valid RSS feed]](images/rss.gif "Subscribe to our XML Feed for RSS")
